Police say the 3-year-old red nose pit bull was taken by one of its owners, Melissa Perry, 38, to Reno, where she and the dog were found in a motel Thursday night. An Alameda animal services officer returned Max to the East Bay city Saturday, and the dog was put down that day, said Laura Zagaroli, a deputy city attorney.

Perry could not be reached for comment. Her boyfriend and alleged accomplice in springing Max, Richard Cochran, 57, remains behind bars at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, charged with burglary and receiving stolen property.

Perry has been charged with the same two felony counts by Alameda County prosecutors.

An Alameda County Superior Court commissioner ordered Max destroyed Tuesday after the animal bit a veterinary technician and a friend of Cochran and Perry in separate incidents. The pit bull vanished from his locked kennel sometime between 4:30 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, the morning he was scheduled to be put down.

John McCurley, an attorney who represented Perry and Cochran in civil court, had hoped to send Max to a nonprofit organization in Utah that has experience dealing with pit bulls. Perry and Cochran had been “completely willing to give up ownership and possession of Max in order to prevent him from being put down,” McCurley said.